Do I do prints?

Dawn on the Grand Canyon by J. Binford-Bell

Once again the question has come up of do I do prints of my art work. Yes, if it is a photograph. And you can have it the size you want and on paper or canvas.

But no I do not do them of my paintings. I figure this is about fairness in business practices. A person buying a photograph knows they are buying a print. Photographs are prints. All prints. But paintings come in originals and now because of Giclee (just ink jet) prints. They are not even limited edition or signed prints. And the ones on just paper strike me as just being posters in a more pricey form. I own a couple prints by artists I admire and who only do limited editions. One was used as a poster for Music of Angel Fire. I have have never even taken them out of the tubes.

I researched the whole print or not to print subject for years while doing fairs with my originals beside other artists selling prints of their work in every size and shape and quantity. I quite honestly think that is very unfair to the customer that buys the original. Collectors of original art do not want to see the image everywhere. Even on coffee mugs. And why pay for an original if you can get a print for far less money? So the artist never sells the original.

And even if I print one of my original works of art on canvas like it is painted it is different. The metallic does not translate in sprayed ink.  Nor does the texture of the oil sticks I use over the watercolor. The only print I could even consider would be on canvas with the addition of metallic inks and oil to make it look like the original. But my work is still very cheap. I have not entered the $9000.00 Santa Fe gallery atmosphere where I recently saw a print with a $1500 price tag. My most expensive painting is $1200 and most fall in the $600 to $900 range.

As I discovered when recently printing a photograph on 20 x 30 inch canvas that makes not a huge gap between the print and the original. The above photograph is $300.00. And at a recent exhibition I say a photograph on canvas go for $900.00. Giclee is not that cheap because of the cost of inks.

I may revisit this subject when my originals are going for $10,000.00 or my heirs might. But for now the answer to "Do you sell prints of your work?" is no if we are talking paintings and Yes if we are talking photographs.

Midnight

Curtis Wilson Cost - Midnight Snack

Perhaps it is too close to Halloween to see the above image just as  someone up to grab a snack. Or maybe it is that at this time of year, in the relatively remote area I live, there is more night and more sounds in the night. And more times that raised hair on the cat or the low growl of the dog has you up and turning on the lights.

Midnight

Nothing really

I am sure

But my black cat

ceased purring

my labradoodle did that low growl.

The growl

only I hear

listening to the sounds

when you hold your breath

the screech of a cat beyond the trees.

Counting pets

with groping hand

turning lights on with the other

the wind?

Coyotes on the hunt?

Totally awake

walking from room to room

peering out the black windows

Magique wagging her tail

the all clear sign given.

Quick stop

at the cookie jar

then back to bed to read a while

the night silent

except for the purr of the cat.

J. Binford-Bell

October 2012

As I lay dying

Sick Woman by Jan Steen
Image Provided by The Mag

Once upon a time in a land not that far away or a time not that removed women were not allowed to be ill - just hysterical. And doctors were not permitted to see them in their death beds or examine their bodies for the physical evidence of their path to death. Sometimes they could not be in the same room.

Dying women must pull themselves from bed, dress and sit in a chair as if to entertain and hope that with just a pulse to relate to a doctor the reality of their physical being. And so it is without understanding the number of women who died because of being female. Victims of their very physical natures or witches should they live.

And have we come that far? Or are we still being disbelieved. Fed tranquilizers and hormones and antidepressants for fibro and lupus and chronic depression and other diseases the medical profession continues to say are all in our head. We are seen through monograms and MRIs. Our knowledge of our own bodies disregarded. "Silly woman, you are just depressed. Nothing a good man could fuck out of you."

And at one time that is what doctors did so no wonder we are still being screwed.

Woman, heal thyself.

And so we go to herbal stores and the woman next door.

Or we choose to die. Whole with all our parts.

Seeing Uniquely

Aspen in the Mists by J. Binford-Bell

We are having a glorious fall and everyone with a camera, or these days even just a smart phone, is out trying to record the magic. For those of us that live here it often becomes about getting that unique view. We stand on our heads, do back bends and walk for miles looking for that special perspective nobody else has captured. Sometimes the weather helps. Last night we had snow and this morning a thick fog.

Through the fog by J. Binford-Bell

Blowing in the wind by J. Binford-Bell

The day before we had gale force winds which provided a sweep to lone stands of aspens already effected by the colder than normal nights to produce oranges and reds. The winds blew one of these brilliant trees down, and I found myself in a more somber mood.

For the fallen by J. Binford-Bell

Horizons through the fog by J. Binford-Bell

Fall seems the most fleeting of seasons as if the glory of the colors and the remaining good days to be out and about cannot last for long. Soon it will be winter and all the beautiful leaves will be on the ground, in our memories or on our computers.

Snow on the rose by J. Binford-Bell

So sad as it is my most favorite of seasons.

Topsy Turvey

Must be Time for Lunch - Woodman

Wait!

What is the dog doing

In my chair at the table?

Me under looking up

Begging

For a scrap.

Awake!

For I must be asleep

My labradoodle is talking politics

While I am mute

Hoping

she will drop the fork.

J. Binford-Bell

September 2012

Arches and Shadows

Enigma of the Hour by Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico was a Greek-born Italian artist. In the years before World War I he founded the scuola metafisica Art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. After 1919 he became interested in traditional painting techniques, and worked in a neoclassical or neo-Baroque style, while frequently revisiting the metaphysical themes of his earlier work. See Wiki

I formally met Chirico in an art history class at University of New Mexico. His work made a huge impact on my doodles in my note books. And now I have to acknowledge his impact on my photography. So the following photographs are dedicated to Giorgio.

Arches by J. Binford-Bell

Openings to the Sky by J. Binford-Bell

Tower to the gods by J. Binford-Bell

Mesitas Mission by J. Binford-Bell

This is a wonderful old mission just north of the New Mexico border in Colorado. I like to think Chirico would have been in his element.

Arch to an Arch by J. Binford-Bell

Marks of Time by J. Binford-Bell

Photo Exhibition

Fog 

Fall colors have a small window of opportunity and are so governed by weather. Even the rain in the summer can effect the brilliance of the colors in September. And fall rains can strip the trees of leaves or drain the color from them. You pick your date, make your plans and hope. Jessica and I picked the 26th. It rained the 25th. And Wednesday morning the valley was cloaked in fog.

Let there be light

Both photography and Aspens are about light. They are just yellow until the sunlight is filtered through their leaves and then they can turn the very air yellow.

All in a row

With good timing, good weather, right location and patience to wait for the sun co come back out from behind the cloud anyone can take a good Aspen photo. But those that have photographed them over and over are always looking for something a bit different.

Reflections of glory

In the color

Jessica waiting for the sun

Foreground can also be quite important. So nice that my photographic partner wore the right color to set off the scene. Both of us picked orange/peach colors because it was bow season for elk.

Besting the pines

The dark green of firs can make the aspens look even more gold. And one should not overlook the landscape the aspens grow in. And often with cottonwoods that go gold at the same time.

Fall spilling down the valley

Gloria

But sometimes there is one tree that is so glorious you cannot help but focus in on just it.

Probably this weekend will be another great time to get out and take pictures. We went up to almost 10,000 feet for some of these pictures. Fall comes later in the lower valleys. I have been watching the aspens that grow in my neighborhood and hoping for no rain or hail to tarnish their performance.